Names Across the Sea
by Bohemian's Capricorn
Summary: Strawhat only laughed at Smoker's insult. "I know! They're so interesting! Ace falls asleep all the time, Tashigi loves swords more than people, and Bon-chan is an okama! Aren't they just great?" Part 1 of Bohemian's Rhapsody.
1. hurricane

**CHAPTER ONE:**

**HURRICANE**

"The weather's quite nice today."

"Shishishi. It's the perfect weather to start our adventure in~"

Portgas D. Ace merely chuckled at his younger brother's enthusiasm, reclining in the small boat that the villagers had been nice enough to lend them—though they would probably never get it back—and staring up at the sky. His eyes were half-lidded, and a yawn escaped his mouth as he watched a seagull glide lazily through the air. The weather sure was nice and Ace felt as if he could nod off right then and there and not due to his narcolepsy, either—his infamous "ability" to just suddenly fall asleep with little warning was often a cause for his napping, though it didn't seem to be the case this time.

Luffy had insisted that they get up at the crack of dawn when they had only been asleep for three hours at the most so that they could start their journey as fast as possible. Of course, the lack of sleep didn't seem to affect the strawhat-wearing boy, but Ace had already figured that would be the case. No matter how tired Luffy was, he almost never showed it, and he always had a face-splitting grin and a twinkle that spoke of all kinds of trouble in his eyes. Ace often found himself wondering how Luffy was so _chipper _all the time, but he'd always come to the conclusion that it was one of those mysteries that made up Luffy, and no one would ever figure it out.

Just as Ace had gotten comfortable and felt the first tendrils of sleep overtake him—he was positive that Luffy could take care of himself for a few hours, since he wasn't really a little kid anymore, despite how much he acted like it—he felt the boat rock as Luffy stood and a rain of sea water hit him. Groaning slightly at the feeling of the water seeping into his clothes, he cracked an eye open to see Luffy grinning at something behind him.

Instantly dreading what it was, Ace slowly turned his head, faintly hearing Luffy speak as he did so. Something about a sea monster and showing it what he had done these past years. Brows furrowing—the only sea monster that lived around here was the Lord of the Coast, but Luffy couldn't be so stupid as to challenge it, surely—his gaze finally landed on what his brother had been grinning at and, yes, Luffy _was _stupid enough to challenge the Lord of the Coast.

Twitching in slight annoyance—he had shut his eyes for _one second_ and _this_ had happened—he went to scold his younger brother—and possibly insult him—but all he got was a mouthful of sea water instead, as Luffy's Gomu Gomu no Pistol sent the giant Sea King flying. Spitting the salty water from his mouth, he whirled his head around so that he could glare at his moron of a younger brother.

"You idiot!" he practicaly screeched, lunging forward and making a grab at Luffy's cheeks. Once he had a firm hold on them, he tugged harshly, watching as they stretched and inwardly smirking at Luffy's cry of pain. Ah, the power of brotherly love: What would Ace do without it? "What would've happened if that monster had destroyed our boat, huh? What would we have done then?!"

"But Aceeeeeee," Luffy whined, his words slurred by his stretched cheeks, "It didn't destroy the boat and I had to get revenge for Shanks' arrrrrrrrrm."

Ace sighed and let go of Luffy's cheeks, which immediately snapped back into place with a pop. "Just... warn me next time. I nearly had a heart attack when I saw that thing's teeth inches from my face."

"Okay!"

Shaking his head slightly, Ace settled back down in the boat and yawned again. "I'm taking a nap," he said. "Wake me up in a few hours or if you run into some type of trouble, which you undoubtedly will."

Luffy pouted and grumbled, "you're the one who runs into trouble," which earned him a kick to the shin that sent him tumbling. With the boat being so small and having nowhere to land but the ocean or his brother, Luffy took the safer option and landed with a loud thud, somehow draping himself across Ace's stomach.

Ace grunted in pain at the feeling of his brother's elbow landing dangerously close to somewhere he'd rather not have elbowed. "Watch what you doing, Luffy!" he scolded, more for the fact that the rubber man could've landed in the ocean instead of on him. Ace may not have eaten a Devil Fruit, and therefore he could fish Luffy out of the ocean if needed, but that didn't mean that he couldn't worry about Luffy's weakness with sea water. The mere thought of Ace not being fast enough to save Luffy made him shudder.

"But you were the one who kicked me, Ace," Luffy pouted. Ace would've crossed his arms if they weren't trapped under Luffy.

"You're right and I'm sorry," Ace apologized. "No more rough-housing in the boat, okay?"

Luffy was silent for a moment, his nose scrunched up as he thought it over. Ace rolled his eyes at this, but kept quiet knowing that Luffy would agree a whole lot faster and easier if he stayed silent than if he spoke up. After a few seconds, the captain's grin returned.

"Alright, no more rough-housing in the boat," he agreed, but, by the tone of his voice, there was an unspoken _but _there.

"But?" Ace prompted, already having an idea of where this was going.

"I get your share of meat for a month!"

"Oh, no way! A week!"

"Three weeks!"

"One and a half weeks!"

"Two and a half weeks!"

The two brothers had a stare down and Ace forced himself to look nowhere but at his brother's eyes. If he looked down any further, then there would be that unmistakable puppy dog pout that Luffy used to get whatever he wanted—it was one of the few reasons as to _why_ Luffy was the captain and not himself. He felt his resolve cracking though, and when Luffy's stare slowly morphed into his puppy dog eyes, Ace reluctantly gave in.

"Fine. Two and a half weeks."

Luffy cheered, jumping off of his brother and shooting his arms up in the air in a mini-celebration type of victory dance. Ace rolled his eyes at this, but he wasn't too annoyed. Living with Luffy for as long as he had, one would quickly get used to the fact that most, if not all, of you're meat would get consumed by the bottomless pit that he now had to call Captain.

He yawned again and this time let himself fall asleep, figuring that Luffy could take care of things for a few hours. If only he knew how wrong he was, then maybe he would've never let Luffy be the only one functioning on a small boat in the middle of the ocean where he would lose all mobility if he fell in. However, Ace was too tired to be worried about his admittedly stupid idea of letting Luffy handle things, and he fell into a dreamless sleep without a single problem.

**o**

**O**

**o**

The first thing Ace noticed when he awoke was that his stomach was rumbling angrily in a demand to be fed, while the second was that, despite going steadily forward, the boat was rocking back and forth like it was being tugged towards something. He blinked the sleep from his eyes and pushed himself up so that he could look at Luffy while speaking to him.

"Did anything happen while I was asleep?" he asked, causing Luffy's to train his gaze on him.

"Nope!"

"Anything dangerous in front of us?"

"Nope!"

"That's good," Ace mumbled to himself before sitting up fully and stretching the kinks out of his back that he gathered from sleeping in a tiny boat. He yawned again, vaguely noticing that Luffy was staring at something behind him—Ace faintly wondered if he should've claimed the other end of the boat. Curious, and with the slightest amount of dread, he turned and stared at what had Luffy so quiet.

A pause as Ace turned to face a still-grinning Luffy.

"What the hell Luffy! You said that there was nothing dangerous in front of us!"

"But, there wasn't."

"There's a _whirlpool_ right in front of us! A whirlpool! And_ no one can out swim a whirlpool_! How did-"

"Shishishi. Don't worry, Ace, I have a plan," Luffy laughed, not at all worried about their impending doom. Ace twitched, holding back the urge to whack his baby brother on the head as it really wouldn't do any damage to the rubber man.

"And, pray tell, what is this plan of yours?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"We'll hide in the barrel!"

"There's no room in the barrel! Its full of food!"

"Shishishi. I ate it all while you were sleeping."

"You..." Ace began but trailed off when he noticed that he had nothing to say to that. Sure, he knew that Luffy was a glutton, but to eat all of the food they had, the _only _food they had, in a matter of hours? He couldn't even wrap his mind around the idea, though he guessed he should be somewhat glad for his gluttonous little brother, considering Luffy had given the two of them a way to escape—a very, very, very dubious and dangerous way, but a way none-the-less—death at the hands of a whirlpool...

"_Shit!_" Ace cursed, having completely forgotten about the whirlpool in his attempt to wrap his mind around the mystery that was Monkey D. Luffy. He spun around, jaw dropping when he noticed how close they were to their impending doom. It really shouldn't have been possible to get that close in such a little amount of time unless he had been lost in thought longer than he first, well, thought. Groaning, he hoped that this plan worked—it probably would: Luffy had the stupidest luck sometimes. He turned, grabbed his brother by that back of his shirt, since Luffy had wandered over to him in the time Ace had been thinking, slightly worried when the older man didn't even twitch at his comment, and stuffed the rubberman in the barrel.

He looked down into the cramped space and sighed. "There is no way in hell this is going to work," he grumbled before squeezing himself into the tiny space, for once jealous that Luffy was made of rubber. At least he could be smashed against the side of the barrel and not feeling anything.

Luffy merely laughed at his statement.

Ace pulled the lid over the top of the barrel and sighed again as he wondered what he had gotten himself into. He started to think that perhaps he should've left three years ago to be the captain of his own crew, but one look at the still-laughing Luffy stopped that thought in its tracks. He settled down in the barrel as best as he could, Luffy maneuvering himself so that he was—somehow—sitting on his brother's lap.

"This is going to be a long ride."

Luffy just laughed once again.

**o**

**O**

**o**

Coby grunted, rolling a suspiciously heavy barrel onto the shore before stopping to wipe his forehead as he gave the simple wooden barrel a suspicious look. He had never heard of a barrel this heavy before. Maybe it had a person in it? He chuckled and shook his head. Yeah, right. Why would a person be in a barrel? It was probably full of sake or something like that. Shrugging, he continued to roll the barrel up the shore until he came to a plain, wooden shack where three of Alvida's crew were waiting.

"H-hey!" he called out, cursing himself inwardly for his stutter. How was he going to become a strong marine if he couldn't even talk to a weak pirate without stuttering? But when all three pairs of eyes turned towards him, he gulped and shoved that thought to the back of his mind. He really didn't want to die. "I-I think that there's sake in this barrel. It got washed up on shore..."

"What? You're saying that barrel of sake got washed up on shore?" the one with the short dark hair asked, causing Coby to inwardly roll his eyes. He had _just _said that.

_Really. Guys like these are definitely what gave pirates the name uncivilized and illiterate_, Coby thought before answering the pirates question.

"Yes. There seems to be something inside it. What should we do with it?" He tacked on that last part without really meaning too. He didn't want to be the one in charge of the mysterious barrel when Alvida found out about it, so he was more than happy when one of the other two suggested that they drink it together. He took a small step back, hoping to escape unnoticed, but he stopped when the last of the three pirates turned his attention on him.

"You know what to do, right Coby?!" he asked, his voice taking on a threatening quality.

Coby nodded vigorously. "Of... of course! I haven't seen anythi-"

But before Coby got to finish answering, the lid to the barrel popped off and a pair of arms followed by a head and torso shot out of the barrel at an alarming speed.

"That was a nice nap!" the owner of said arms, head, and torso yelled, stretching his arms above his head with a huge grin on his face. "Looks like we were saved! And I thought we were going to die!"

Coby blinked, his mouth open and eyes wide in surprise. So he was right! There had been a person in the barrel, but why was he saying we? Was there someone else in there too? But that was more preposterous than the thought of one person hiding out in a small barrel.

But Coby never got the answer to that question as the sound of wood breaking snapped him from his thoughts, and he stared wide-eyed as Alvida's metal mace came flying through the shack. He instantly dropped to his knees and covered his head with his arms in an attempt to protect it from the shards of glass and wood that were falling through the air. He hoped that Alvida wouldn't notice him and that the strange boy in the barrel was okay. He didn't want to be at fault if the boy died or anything, since he was the one who brought the barrel onto shore in the first place. He peeked through his arms to see that Alvida was distracted yelling at the three pirates and that the boy in the barrel was gone. Eyes widening, he shot up and rushed into the forest only to trip over something in the process.

"What was that?" he asked, pushing himself off the ground and turning to see what he had tripped over. To say that he was shocked when he saw he had tripped over a body would be an understatement, as he promptly shrieked and fell over backwards. Holding a hand to his chest, he tried to calm his beating heart while moving forward so that he could get a closer look at who he had tripped over.

_Please don't be dead, please don't be dead, please don't be dead, _he chanted over and over in his head as he moved closer until he was right next to the man. He took note of his black hair and freckled face before he caught a glimpse of the man's rising and falling chest and he couldn't help the sigh of relief that escaped him.

So the man wasn't dead, but what was he doing sleeping in the middle of the forest? Especially on an island claimed by Iron Mace Alvida? Just as he reached a hand out to try and shake the man awake a familiar voice spoke up behind him. "That's not gonna do anything. When Ace falls asleep, nothing'll wake him up."

He spun around, eyes widening when he saw the same boy from before, lips still turned up in a grin and a twinkle in his eyes. Coby's eyes strayed to a small cut on the boy's cheek. "Are you alright?" he asked.

The boy blinked before laughing. "I'm fine!"

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, who are you?"

"I'm Luffy! Where are we?"

Coby blinked. _What a strange name,_ he thought, but he answered almost instantly. "This is the territory of the pirate Iron Mace Alvida, and I'm the caretaker of her ship. My name's Coby."

"I see, but that's not important. Do you have a small boat, though? Mine was caught in a whirlpool."

Coby's eyes widened and he exclaimed, "Wh-whirlpool?! You were caught in a _whirlpool_?!"

"Yeah. It sure was scary, though. So, do you have a small boat?"

_A normal person would be dead if their boat was caught in a whirlpool, _Coby thought. _Just who is this guy?_

"I do have small boat, but..." Coby trailed off, thinking of the boat he had been building for two years that looked like it was going to sink the second he placed it in the water.

"Really? Then lets go!" Luffy exclaimed, practically jumping up and down in joy.

Coby's eyes wandered to the still sleeping man. _I think Luffy-san called him Ace. I wonder how they know each other? And should we really just leave him here?_

Luffy followed Coby's gaze, his grin turning wider when he saw what the boy was looking at. "Ah, Ace'll be fine if we just leave him here. I've done it a whole bunch of times before and he's managed to get back. So let's go get that boat!"

"If you say so," Coby sighed, still worried, but he led Luffy towards his boat's hiding spot anyway.

**o**

**O**

**o**

Ace shot up, expecting to still be inside the damned barrel and shocked when he noticed that he was in a lush forest instead. He blinked, looking around to see if he could spot Luffy anywhere, and when he didn't see the familiar straw hat, he sighed and laid back down, arms spread wide. He knew that Luffy was fine since he couldn't hear the boy, which ultimately meant that he wasn't in any sort of trouble. And Ace was pretty comfortable laying here and stretching his limbs. That barrel had been cramped with him and Luffy inside, and he was thankful that one of his fits had decided to show up again so he could just sleep off the ride and ignore Luffy's babbling and whining about how he was hungry.

The sound of fighting reached Ace's ears and he sighed. The little peace he had was gone and now he had better get up and go find Luffy before the pirate captain caused anymore trouble then he already had. Standing, the elder pirate brushed the dirt from his shorts before shoving his hands in his pockets and walking forward, whistling a merry tune as he did so. By the time he reached the edge of the forest, he could see Luffy laughing as a younger boy stared up at him with something akin to admiration in his eyes, tears streaming down his face. Ace also noticed that the other men on this island seemed terrified of Luffy and that there was a woman passed out on the ground.

He blinked before asking, "Do I really want to know what happened here?"

Luffy whirled around. "Ace! Guess what? I got us a new boat!"

"Is that so?" Ace chuckled, not at all doubting Luffy.

"Yeah! And Coby here says that he wants to be a marine, so we're taking him to the next island so he can start his training!" Luffy grinned, slapping Coby on the back and causing the pink-haired boy to stumble forward.

Ace was slightly surprised by this, but he didn't question it. Instead, he turned and introduced himself to the boy. "The name's Portgas D. Ace, and I apologize if my idiotic little brother has caused you any trouble."

"A-ah! No, you've got it all wrong! Luffy-san actually saved me!" Coby exclaimed, waving his hands in the air in front of his chest as if trying to knock the apology away. "If it wasn't for him, I'd still be working under Alvida."

Ace raised a brow at this, turning to look at the still-grinning Luffy. "You actually managed to do something right for once, Luffy?" he asked, not particularly believing this and waiting for something to happen that would prove that Luffy had done something stupid again. His wait was in vain, however, as Luffy had actually finally done something right.

Before Luffy could answer, though, a shaking pirate appeared, his eyes trained fearfully on anywhere but Luffy. Ace inwardly rolled his eyes at this. There was nothing scary about his baby brother—except, maybe, his monstrous apatite—and it was extremely amusing to see someone afraid of him.

"Th-the boat is ready," the pirated said before turning and fleeing from the vicinity. Clueless as always, Luffy simply grinned before turning and grabbing both Coby and Ace in the process.

"Let's go then!" the rubber man exclaimed, still grinning from ear to ear and dragging his two companions behind him, oblivious to the calls of "let go" and "slow down". After he dropped Coby off at the nearest island, he would start his look for his nakama and then they would set sail to the Grand Line where the legendary treasure of One Piece was waiting. Why should he slow down now?

* * *

**AN: **_I don't really have much to say about this chapter, really. Its the first chapter so its kind of a bit slow, but it does have Coby in it which is a plus~ Also, I'll warn you now that Bohemian's Rhapsody is not going to follow canon very closely. After all, the crew is made up of widely different characters who will react to the situations we know and love in different ways. _

_- Capri_


	2. lay me down

**CHAPTER TWO:**

**LAY ME DOWN**

A few days had passed since the two pirates had received their new boat from the Alvida Pirates, and in those few days quite a lot had happened. They had dropped Coby off at Shells Town merely hours after the people had been freed from the tyranny of Axe-hand Morgan by one Roronoa Zoro, who had disappeared right before the three had shown up. Luffy was disappointed by this, since he had wanted the pirate hunter to be in his crew, but he forgot all about his disappointment once a plate of steaming hot food was placed in front of him. Ace, honoring the deal between the two of them, reluctantly gave his grinning brother his meat. After a slightly tearful farewell from Coby, the two brothers were once again on their way.

Of course, the next day found the brothers on an island overrun by Buggy the Clown, and Ace was reminded of Luffy's fury at his precious hat being damaged. The two of them kicked that entire crew to the curb, however, just before being chased off the island by its furious villagers who mistakenly believed that the brothers had knocked out their mayor (which they had done but purely out of necessity, honest!).

Unsurprisingly, on the third day into their travels, they had defeated the notorious Captain Kuro and stopped him from murdering an innocent girl just for her fortune. This time they were thanked, though, when the girl had given them a small caravel ship by the name of Going Merry. Luffy had been instantly and completely enamored with the ship and had promptly claimed the figurehead as his favorite seat despite the danger, but Ace hadn't expected anything else from him.

Which lead to where they were now, Luffy sitting atop the sheep-based figurehead and Ace charting out the route that they had taken and writing fiercely in the logbook, every once in a while glancing up to make sure that the ship was staying on course and that Luffy was where he was supposed to be. The silence stretched for about five more minutes before it was broken by an immensely bored and hungry Luffy.

"Accceeeee," he whined, turning slightly so that he could see his brother. "I'm boreeeeeeeed."

"I'm busy right now Luffy," Ace said, not looking up from what he was doing. "Go find something to amuse yourself with. I'm sure that there's something on this ship."

"But I already checked and there's nothing."

"Well, that's too bad then. You'll just have to sit there until I'm done."

Luffy pouted but kept quiet, turning so that he could watch the sea again. It was at times like these that he wished that he had another crewmember to mess around with. Yes, he loved his brother, but Ace could be so boring at times, especially when he was doing his navigation stuff and writing in the logbook. Luffy knew how important it was but that didn't change the fact that it was boring when he had to be quiet.

He let out an annoyed whine and laid limply on the figurehead, staring sullenly out in front of him. His boredom was quickly replaced by excitement when he noticed the slowly growing blob in front of the ship. "It's an island!" he cheered, whipping around to look at his brother and teetering dangerously on the figurehead for a moment before he caught his balance Luckily, Ace hadn't saw, otherwise Luffy would've gotten a scolding. "There's an island coming up, Ace!"

Ace blinked and looked at the map, before looking up and noting that there _was_ an island coming up. He hummed thoughtfully for a moment, before packing up his things and storing them in the galley so that they wouldn't be ruined by his brother.

"What's the island called, Ace?" Luffy asked, leaning back to stare at the older man.

"Konomi Islands," Ace answered. "Now, off the figurehead. We don't know how they'll react to pirates so we have to be on our guard."

Luffy wrinkled his nose but obeyed, his excitement level rising. They had been traveling for days without any island in sight, which meant no adventures or new nakama, and he was getting restless to go explore and maybe find some crewmembers along the way. And he was getting kind of hungry too, as he had finished off the last of their food that morning, which had earned him a punch to the top of his head from a furious Ace.

"Are we going to restock on that island too?" Luffy asked.

"Of course."

"Then I'll go look for some crewmembers and get myself some food while you go get the supplies!"

Seeing nothing wrong with that plan, Ace agreed. He was going to do something like that to begin with, anyway, so it wasn't too worrying that Luffy wanted to explore. He actually expected something like that to happen.

As the island got closer, Ace could see Luffy's excitement rising but before he could tell the rubberman to stay put, Luffy was already gone, having used his powers to catapult himself onto the island and ultimately leaving his brother behind.

"Wait! Luffy!" Ace yelled, leaning dangerously over the edge of the ship. "Get back here! You can't just go catapulting yourself onto an island when you don't know how people are going to react, you idiot!" But Luffy was already out of sight and out of earshot of his brother's yelling, causing Ace to let out a frustrated groan and turn back to the ship, only to see that there were two fish-like figures walking towards him, their lips turned up into quite the firghtening grin.

"This is just perfect," Ace sighed, getting into his fighting stance and causing the fishmen (he faintly remembered reading about them somewhere) to give him mocking looks. And just because fate was deciding to be a bitch that day, he felt darkness creeping up on him and before he could even let out a curse, he was asleep, landing heavily on the deck of the Going Merry.

**o**

**O**

**o**

"Meat, meat, meat, meat," Luffy chanted as he strolled through the small town, completely unaware of the looks he was getting from the villagers. His mind was only on one thing at the moment and that was getting some food into his growling stomach. But he couldn't seem to find any open bars or cafes, which only caused his hunger and annoyance to grow.

"Meeeaaaattttt," he groaned, slumping against a table and starring sadly ahead, his lips turned down in a pout. He looked so absolutely miserable that he gathered the attention of the mayor and sheriff of the little town he was in.

"Boy, what are you doing here?"

Luffy looked up to see a man leaning over him, and his attention was quickly caught by the pinwheel sticking out of the old man's hat. Hunger forgotten for a moment, he straightened up and exclaimed, "That's so cool! Ne, Ossan, why is there a pinwheel in your hat?"

The man blinked but never got to answer as Luffy had already fired off another question, having quickly remembered the real reasn as to why he was on Konomi Islands in the first place. "Pinwheel-ossan, do you know where I can get some meat? I'm hungry."

"This island isn't welcoming to strangers," the man answered. "You should leave and try a different one."

"But, I'm hungry," Luffy whined, "and Ace said that this was the closest place to get supplies before Loguetown... Ah! I left Ace behind! He's gonna be so angry with me..."

Luffy pouted as his stomach growled again but before he could speak, a shaking voice filled the air.

"Arlong's coming!"

Luffy blinked at the sudden feeling of despair that appeared. Usually, he wasn't one for noticing the atmosphere, but not even he could ignore it this time. He sat up and glanced around the small village, his eyes ultimately landing on the Pinwheel-ossan, who looked like he could barely conceal his anger.

"Ne, Pinwheel-ossan, who's Arlong?"

"Someone you shouldn't get involved with."

Luffy tilted his head to one side, watching as the villagers all scrambled into their homes, before he caught sight of the hulking figure walking towards them. His eyes widened at the sight of it and his jaw dropped in shock. He had never seen anyone so cool-looking before! He looked like he was fish, but he was walking and even talking like a human! "So cool," he whispered, earning a heated glare from Pinwheel-ossan.

"There is nothing cool about him at all," he hissed, but before he could say anything else, Arlong and his followers were upon them.

"Are you the one who was found with weapons in his possession three days ago?" the person who Luffy assumed Arlong was asked, towering over Pinwheel-ossan. But before the man could even speak, Luffy had spoken up, oblivious to the warning looks he was getting from the villagers.

"Fish-ossan, do you know where I can get some meat?"

A silence blanketed the village so thick that it could be cut with a sword as everyone turned their attention to look at the grinning Luffy.

"Well, do ya?" he asked again, after the silence had stretched for too long, his grin quickly morphing into a frown when only more silence answered his question. He was hungry, goddammit! And no one would tell him where to find anything to eat!

"Who is this _boy_?" Arlong asked, spitting out the word like it was poison.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy, the man whose going to be the next Pirate King!" Luffy answered, his grin returning. If all they wanted to know was who he was before giving him any meat than that was fine. "And you must be Arlong! So, do you know where any meat is?"

There was a moment of silence before all the fishmen burst out laughing, causing Luffy to frown in confusion. What was so funny about wanting to know where there was meat? Seriously, these guys must be total idiots to be laughing at something like that.

"You? The next _Pirate King_?" Arlong asked between his laughter. "That's the funniest thing I've heard in years! How could a lowly human like you be the next Pirate King?!"

Luffy's frown deepened. "Oi! Don't laugh at me! I am going to be the Pirate King and if you don't like it then too bad, you stinkin fish!"

The laughter instantly stopped.

"What did you just say?" Arlong growled, now towering over Luffy with unmistakable fury swimming in his eyes.

"I said that I'm going to be the next Pirate King."

Did this guy have a hearing problem or something? Luffy had spoken in his usual this-is-going-to-come-true voice, which was actually pretty loud, but apparently Arlong hadn't heard him the second time either as he asked, "What did you call me, you stupid human?"

"I called you a stinkin fish," Luffy answered, in a nonchalant voice as he stared up at Arlong.

"You stupid boy," Pinwheel-ossan whispered, shaking his head but he had gone unheard as Arlong had punched Luffy, sending the boy flying, out of anger and disbelief that someone had the nerve to call him a "stinking fish".

"That's a warning to all of you," Arlong said, turning to glare at the watching villagers. "No one goes up against me and expects to live."

Apparently satisfied with the way the villagers looked at him with fear, he turned and ordered the rest of his men to return to Arlong Park, forgetting completely what he had gone to Cocoyashi Village for in the first place.

There was silence as he left but once Arlong was out of earshot, Pinwheel-ossan turned and ordered, "Someone find that boy and see if he's still living. If he is, treat his wounds before sending him away."

"But, Genzo-" someone began until they were interrupted by a furious voice.

"What the hell was that for?!"

Everyone turned to stare disbelievingly at Luffy as he pulled himself out of a heap of wood and glass, perfectly fine after having been punched by Arlong and sent flying into a building.

"Boy, you..." Genzo began, shocked that someone had survived that blow and appeared completely unharmed by it save for a few cuts here and there.

Luffy blinked and looked at him, his face splitting into a wide grin as he pulled his cheek, causing it to stretch more than a normal human's face should. "It's alright. I'm a rubber man so that didn't hurt a bit!"

"A rubber man?"

"Yup! I ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi so now I'm a rubber man!"

* * *

**AN: **_Sorry if this seems rushed and short, I was sick when I wrote it, which was actually awhile ago. And I'm not to sure of how I wrote Arlong, since I kind of read that Arc real fast when I got to it because I'm just not really fond of it (though I'm excited for the new special that's a retelling of this arc, which is weird, I know). Also, don't expect chapters to come out this fast. I just wanted to get the first two up because I already had them written and all. I also have little interlude type things that I'm working on for the adventures that I skim over (like the Buggy chapters and the ones with Captain Kuro) so expect those eventually, along with maybe something for the goodbye with Coby? Idk yet_

_- Capri_


	3. a witch and a whip

**CHAPTER THREE:**

**A WHIP AND A WITCH**

The minute he felt consciousness creeping towards him, he shot up, only to tumble back down and land on the ground with a grunt. Curious as to why he wasn't able to stand, he looked down and noticed that his feet were bound by rope and that his arms were tied behind his back with the rest of the rope trailing towards somewhere. Following it with his eyes, he saw that the end of it was in the possession of an orange-haired woman who was glaring down at him with scornful eyes. Her lips, though, turned up in a smile when she noticed that he was awake.

Said smile was a bit unnerving.

"So, you're finally awake," the women commented sashaying - there was really no other way to describe the way she was walking - toward him, the end of the rope still held in her hand.

"Seems so," Ace answered, his tone polite with a hint of cockiness in it that the women obviously picked up on.

"Not that it's going to do you any good, filthy pirate," she spat, eyes narrowed with a dangerous look in her them. "What were you doing so close to Konomi Islands and where's the rest of your crew?"

"Don't know," Ace answered, shrugging nonchalantly. It was completely true. He had no idea where Luffy was and he could only hope - futilely - that the strawhat wearing boy wouldn't get himself into any trouble.

The women didn't believe him and this showed by the tightening of her fists and the clenching of her jaw. "There's no use lying," she hissed. "You're obviously the captain of your filthy band of pirates and as captain you should know exactly where they are."

"And that is where you are wrong." Ace smiled, a victorious gleam in his eyes. While they had been talking, he had slipped the pocketknife he always carried around out of his pocket and started sawing at the ropes. Sometimes, he loved the fact that he had been raised by mountain bandits. "I'm not the captain of my 'filthy band of pirates', as you so kindly dubbed it." There was sarcasm dripping from his voice as he spoke and he couldn't help the smirk that decorated his lips as the ropes binding his hands fell away. "And I wasn't lying about not knowing where he is, either. He's quite unpredictable, ya know?"

"You can't honestly mean that there's only one man in your crew?!" the women asked, her eyes wide. "What kind of pirate are you?"

"The kind who doesn't appreciate being ambushed," Ace said, before surging forward and knocking the woman off her feet. She landed with a thud, a dazed look on her face that gave Ace enough time to cut the ropes binding his feet. He took a step forward, causing the woman to skitter backwards, any confidence she had disappearing at the sight of him unbound.

"H-how...?"

"I never leave home without my trusty pocketknife," he said, throwing the knife up and down for a moment before returning it back to his pocket. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a brother to find."

With that said, he opened the door that was behind the women and exited the room, leaving the woman to stare at where he had previously been, her eyes wide in shock.

**o**

**O**

**o**

"Um, ex-excuse me, Miss, but are you, uh, okay?"

Tashigi paused and looked up, the blurry figure of a man meeting her eyes. "Y-yes! I'm fine! I just seemed to have misplaced my glasses…" she trailed off and turned her attention back to the ground, which she carefully swept her hands across in search of her missing glasses. As a result, she completely missed the look the man gave her, a look that clearly said "what-the-hell-is-with-this-crazy-woman?", not that she would've noticed, being blind without her glasses and all.

"Miss? Are those your glasses on your head?"

Blinking, the swordswoman reached up and felt around until the tips of her fingers came into contact with the cool plastic of her "missing" glasses. "They are!" she said, pushing herself up into a standing position and smiling gratefully at the man, while pushing her glasses down over her eyes. "That's much better. Thank you… where'd he go?"

She twisted her head this way and that, trying to catch a glimpse of the man who had so graciously helped her but he was gone, not a trace of him left. Frowning, she shrugged and turned, intent on continuing her journey towards Arlong Park, but before she had even taken two steps, a red-and-blue blur came to a sudden stop in front of her. Whatever she was expecting it to be it wasnt a boy who could be no older than seventeen and was wearing an old strawhat of all things.

"Hey, lady!" the boy said, a grin on his face. "Which way is Arlong Park?"

"Arlong Park?" she said. "Why do need to go to Arlong Park?"

"Because I have to kick Arlong's ass," the boy said, as if it was the simplest thing in the world. Tashigi could only stare at him in shock, not sure if she had heard him right. Why would he want to fight Arlong? And how was he going to fight him? She couldn't see any weapon on the boy and he was definitely to scrawny-looking to be effective in any type of melee fighting.

"Well?" the boy asked, having grown tired of her silence. "Do you know or not?"

"I- I do, but-"

"Great! Now which way is it?"

"I don't think you should-"

"Are you going to tell me or not, lady?" he asked, a look of annoyance settling on his face.

Tashigi sighed. She could tell that even if she didn't give him directions, he wouldn't give up on his quest to fight Arlong. He also didn't seem like the type to accept any logic, especially from a stranger. But she couldn't just let him go off on his own; he would be killed for sure. Maybe he would see what a bad idea it was when he actually saw Arlong?

Somewhat hopeful, she suggested, "why don't I show you the way? I'm heading to Arlong Park as well."

He grinned. "Okay!"

Tashigi tried to smile back, but it came out more as a grimace than anything. This was such a bad idea, but she couldn't think of an alternative. She'd just have to make sure that the boy didn't get into too much danger. And she'd have to keep an extra close eye on him while she met up with Arlong.

Otherwise, he'd get the both of them killed.

* * *

**AN:** _This is a really bad chapter, wow. Sorry about how terrible it is. But I've introduced Tashigi, which is exciting cause she's such a lovely character~ And, I know that Luffy seems to be a bit hot-headed in this chapter (and the previous one too). In canon, he probably wouldn't be as mad about Arlong insulting him than he is here, but keep in mind that Ace never left on his own journey and, even though he's gotten better, he's still quite the hot head. So, Luffy spent three more years with him, instead of spending those three years with the others in Foosha, which (I think), had a much more calming effect on him (I mean, have you seen him as a child? He was a terror), and he picked up some bad habits (and some good, too) and one of them is this hot-headedness that he's portraying. Plus, he's hungry and a hungry Luffy is an annoyed Luffy. And that's all I really have to say._

_- Capri_


	4. nice work you did

**CHAPTER FOUR:**

**NICE WORK YOU DID**

Ace ducked, barely managing to escape decapitation by a fishman's sword. Despite this, he was grinning. He hadn't been in an actual fight in a long time; at least, not one that had made him exert so much energy. Of course, it would be better if he had something to fight with besides his bare hands (he had never been too good at hand-to-hand; that was Luffy's forte), but he would make do with what he had.

Grinning, he rammed into the fishman's stomach, knocking him off-balance and sending him - falling - into the swimming pool that was in the middle of the courtyard. He spun out of the way of another attack and kicked the fishman so that he, too, fell into a pool. It probably wasn't such a good idea to knock them into water, with them being fishmen, but Ace couldn't think up a better idea at the moment, especially since he was now being attacked on all sides.

Sighing (how did he manage to get into these situations? Oh. Right. Luffy), he cracked his knuckles and proceeded to enter the fight with gusto, hoping that Luffy wasn't out causing trouble somewhere else.

**o**

**O**

**o**

"So, lady, why are you going to Arlong Park? Are you going to kick Arlong's ass too?" the kid asked, looking up at Tashigi with wide eyes, who sighed.

_Why am I bringing him along? He's so young. There's no way that he'll survive thi_s, she thought. Arlong was a monster - in all definitions of the word - and he would not take kindly to some no-name kid challenging him to a fight. And here she was, bringing him to his death; and willingly, at that. But...

She side-eyed him. For some reason, she believed that he could fight Arlong - and maybe even beat him too. There was a power simmering under his skin that Tashigi had only ever felt in a few other people, although it seemed dormant, as if the boy hadn't noticed it yet.

"No," she said, finally answering his earlier question. "He simply has something that's mine. I'm here to take it back."

The boy tilted his head, confused. "What if he doesn't give it back?" he asked.

"Then I'll fight him for it," she said, although she doubted that she would even be able to scratch Arlong, let alone _defeat_ him. She only hoped that he would hand over what she was looking for in peace, so that she could leave this island without any problem and head to Loguetown. She had plans to join the Marines, so that she could stop things like this from happening. But first, she needed to take Shigure back from him.

"What did he take?" the boy asked, face full of curiosity and, under normal circumstances, she wouldn't had answered him, but he looked harmless enough and she figured that it wouldn't hurt.

"Shigure," she answered, clenching her fist in anger. "My sword."

"Can't you just buy a new sword?"

"No!" Her eyes widened at the anger behind her reply and she said, "I-I'm sorry. But, Shigure is my treasure. I could never replace it. It's all I have left."

She said the last part to herself, clenching her fists even tighter. It was all she had left and she had let some pirate take it from her. It hadn't taken her very long to find out who the pirate's captain was, as there was only one crew of fishmen in East Blue and, among the underground, it was a widely known fact that Arlong had taken up residence on Konomi Islands. It had only been a matter of finding transportation to the islands that had taken time. No one had wanted to even come near this place, in fear of incurring Arlong's wrath.

"Arlong stole your treasure?" the boy asked and Tashigi was bewildered at how different he sounded then seconds before. Gone was his curiosity and confusion and in its place was steel and... anger. There was no reason for him to be angry or, at least, that's what Tashigi thought. Why should it matter to him that her treasure had been stolen? He hadn't even known her for half an hour and he was feeling angry on her behalf?

"Yes," she said, watching him closely for a reaction. Her answer seemed to make him angrier and her confusion only grew when he grabbed the hat off his head and stared at it, before smiling up at her. It wasn't the carefree smile he had had before. It was steely and more determined than carefree, but she could see the childishness lurking underneath.

"If you can't get your treasure back, I'll get it for you," he said, determined. He placed the strawhat back on his head, punctuating what he had said. Tashigi stared at him.

"Why?" she asked. "You don't even know me. You don't even know my name."

"Shishishi," he laughed, slipping back into his carefree persona. "Because you're showing me the way to Arlong Park!"

"I'm taking you to your death!" Tashigi said, not used to having anyone do anything for her without some kind of payment. And here this boy was, promising to get Shigure back from a pirate with a bounty of twenty million beli all because she was giving him directions. Who did something like that?

The boy just laughed. "I won't die! I still have to accomplish my dream and get your treasure back."

Before Tashigi could ask, an explosion sounded in the direction of Arlong Park. Worried, she started to run, the boy keeping up with her easily. "Arlong Park's where that smoke is at, right?" he asked and Tashigi nodded.

Grinning, the boy sped up until he was outrunning her and she watched as he grew smaller and smaller until he was out of sight completely.

"He's going to get himself killed!" she said, speeding up as well. But, deep down, she didn't really believe this and with a curse, she broke into a full-blown sprint.

**o**

**O**

**o**

Ace panted, bent over his knees as he caught his breath. Passed out around him were all the fishmen who had been in the courtyard and he couldn't help but grin at his victory. It had taken him longer than expected and there were numerous wounds (both small and large) scattered across his body, but he would live and he didn't even think that he had to find a doctor, which was a double win in his mind.

A gasp caused him to look up and he grinned viciously at the orange haired woman from before, who was looking at the scene with wide eyes. He was surprised to see that she wasn't angry, like he had expected her to be (after all, he had just beat up her crewmates, if the tattoo on her shoulder was anything to go by). She looked almost relieved, as if a weight was starting to be lifted from her shoulders.

"You-" she said, but trailed off as if she still couldn't believe what she was seeing. She swallowed. "Did you defeat all of them? By yourself?"

"Do you see anyone else around?" he asked, raising a brow. The woman shook her head, her mouth moving but he couldn't make out any of the words that she was saying. Before he could say anything else, a shadow overtook him and he barely managed to roll away before the spot where he had been standing was pulverized by another fishman. "What? There are more of you?"

But he could feel how much stronger the four were than his previous opponents. The fishman with the saw-like nose, especially, felt powerful enough that Ace found himself thinking that perhaps he should have left when he still had the chance. He glanced at the woman and frowned at the fear and anger that had appeared in her eyes at the sight of the leader (who was obviously the fishman with the saw-like nose), which was unusual. He was her leader, after all, and in places like East Blue, subordinates weren't generally afraid of their leaders.

As Ace looked closer, he suddenly recognized the leader as Arlong the Saw, who had a bounty of over twenty million. _Fuck_, he cursed. _Why did we have to stop on this island_?

"Nami," Arlong said, instantly gaining the woman's attention. "How did he escape?"

"I-" the woman began, trembling, but Ace cut her off before she could continue.

"It was easy," he said. "I cut the ropes. Also, you should really get stronger guards. The jungles back home were more dangerous."

It was true. The jungles on Dawn Island were full of stupidly powerful animals. Not to mention the amount of thugs and bandits he beat up on a daily basis as a child and even as a teenager. The only thing the fishmen here had going for them were their sheer numbers.

His insult angered Arlong and the other three fishmen, while Nami was looking at him with something indescribable on her face. Ace had no time to figure out what it was, as the fishman who had attacked him before had started to move and with a curse, he leaped out of the way, watching in disbelief as the ground practically exploded where he had been previously standing.

_Fuck. Fuck fuck shit. I may have gotten in a bit over my head this time_, he thought, dodging another of the fishman's attack. He was exhausted from his previous fights and he couldn't take on all four by himself. Two, maybe three, but one of them looked to be a powerful swordsmen and one was Arlong himself. _Where's Luffy when I need him_?

He dodged another attack, stumbling over the body of a fallen fishman. He didn't have time to catch his balance before he was sent flying by the fishman's punch. The concrete where he landed cracked around him and he coughed, the air having left his lungs when he was punched.

"So some puny human thinks that he can beat up my crew and get away with it?" Arlong asked, arrogance and contempt dripping from his words. He sneered at Ace, who glared back in defiance. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Nami trying to sneak away and Arlong must've seen her too because he asked, "Nami. Where do you think you're going?"

"I figured that you would no longer need me," she said, voice void of all emotion.

"And why should I believe that you haven't betrayed me and hired this piece of trash to take my head?" he asked.

"I've never seen him before in my life," she said, reigning in the anger that Ace could see flashing across her face. He watched curiously, while attempting to get his breath back and keeping a close eye on the fishman who had attacked him. "And I would never betray you. You know that."

Arlong laughed. "Then prove it. Prove your loyalty to me and I'll let the villager with all the weapons live."

Ace watched as her face shuttered, before settling into something that was frighteningly blank and reminded Ace of himself as a child. It was the look of someone who was carrying the weight of a self-destroying secret on their shoulders, without having any ounce of hope left, though they tried to pretend that they were still hopeful for the people around them.

It was the look of someone who wanted to die, but couldn't because they had an obligation to keep someone else alive.

_What is going on with this crew_? he wondered, narrowing his eyes.

"What do I have to do?" she asked. Arlong laughed again.

"Kill the intruder."

Ace frowned, already knowing that Nami would do what Arlong had ordered. Or she would die trying. He was still recovering from that blow to the stomach and he grimaced at the pain that shot through him when he tried to stand. He watched as Nami approached, clutching a dagger that Arlong had given her. Her face was blank, but there was an apology swimming in her eyes and Ace understood. But that didn't mean that he was going to let her kill him.

He had promised Luffy that he would never die and he would keep that promise no matter who he had to defeat to do so.

Grunting, he stood, watching Nami closely as she approached. It wouldn't be difficult to knock the dagger from her hands as she seemed to not truly know how to use it. His eyes flickered to the three-sectioned staff that was strapped to her leg. That would come in handy. Now all he had to do was knock her out without hurting her too much, grab the staff, and survive being attacked by four fishmen.

Easy as pie.

The wall next to Arlong exploded inward, creating a large cloud of dust and distracting everyone. As the dust cleared, they could see the silhouette of a person and Ace grinned in both relief and amusement as Luffy stepped forward, holding his hat to his head to keep it from blowing away.

"What took you so long, Luffy?" he asked, ignoring the shocked look on the faces of everyone still conscious in the courtyard. The pissed off look that crossed Arlong's face was intriguing and Ace came to the conclusion that Luffy had most definitely done something to piss the fishman off.

Wonderful.

"Oh, Ace! There you are! How did you get here? And why are you all beat up?" Luffy said, bouncing towards him and, luckily, managing to dodge a slash of the octopus's sword. Ace rolled his eyes. His brother and his endless luck.

"So, you're still alive, boy," Arlong said. Luffy stopped, the smile slipping from his face and Ace wondered what Arlong had done to earn that type of reaction from Luffy, who had turned around so that he was facing Arlong.

Luffy didn't say anything in return and Ace whistled lowly. His brother must be pretty damn angry if he wasn't chattering Arlong's ear off.

"Well, boy. How did you survive?" Arlong asked.

"You're going to give Glasses Lady her treasure back," Luffy said, voice cheerful despite the underlying threat. "And then I'm going to kick your ass."

Arlong laughed. "Hachi. Deal with this brat."

"Yes, Arlong," the octopus fishman said, unsheathing all eight swords at his waist and glaring at Luffy. With surprising speed, he was in front of Luffy who merely stared as the eight swords were brought down towards his head.

"Luffy!" Ace yelled, not having any idea as to what Luffy thought he was doing and worried that his stupid brother was going to get himself killed. His worry dissipated when all six swords were stop by a single one, the owner of said sword being a dark-haired woman who was wearing glasses.

"What do you think you're doing, you idiot?" Ace said, racing forward and hitting Luffy over the head. "You could've been killed, stupid!"

"Shishishi," Luffy laughed, earning a heated glare from Ace and a confused look from the woman. "I knew that Glasses Lady was going to stop takoyaki dude's attack."

Ace would've strangled Luffy then and there if it wasn't for the fact that the fishman from before had decided that that would be the perfect time to attack. He ducked, leaving Luffy wide open, who blinked in confusion before he was sent flying by the attack. Ace wasn't too worried, knowing that the punch wouldn't truly hurt his brother. The lady with the glasses, on the other hand, looked shocked and... guilty?

"Don't worry," Ace said, dodging yet another attack from the fishman. "Luffy's survived more than a punch like that."

The woman didn't have time to reply, before Hachi was upon her, attacking wildly with his swords. Ace could hear Luffy getting up, but he wasn't paying much attention, too busy making sure not to get hit by the fishman. Luffy may not be affected by his attacks, but Ace wasn't made of rubber or idiocy and if he got hit by that attack again... well, let's just say that it would not be pretty.

* * *

**AN:** _This chapter is much better than the last one. And it gets into a lot more action (forgive me for my terrible skills at writing fight scenes) and plot stuff, I guess. Idk. Tashigi was fun to write in this chapter and we'll be seeing a bit more of Nami during the rest of this arc. Also, Arlong is a bitch to write. Like wow. I hate him. The fishman Ace is fighting is Kuroobi, by the way. He's the one that Sanji fought. And Chew is still standing by Arlong. Let's see. What else... oh! This chapter came out really fast, but that was because I felt bad about last chapter (which was terrible) and I had a sudden strike of inspiration to write this today._

_And Ace has not eaten the Mera Mera no Mi at this point in time (you'll see that I edited out any mention of it in the previous chapters). But, he will, I promise. Though it wont be soon. Instead, he fights using a staff (much like the pipe he used to fight as a child), which was why he was eyeing Nami's (his is still on the Going Merry). And that's it, really. _

_See ya next time~!_

_- Capri_


End file.
